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Why Do PPC Costs in Profit and Loss Seem to Vary Depending on Which Period I Look At? ​

The Short Answer ​

Amazon does not charge PPC costs on a fixed daily schedule. Instead, charges are triggered when your accumulated PPC spend exceeds a credit limit (typically around $500 for US accounts). This means charges land on seemingly random dates and cover varying numbers of days, causing PPC costs to look inconsistent across different reporting periods.

How Amazon Bills PPC Costs ​

When you pay PPC through your settlement account:

  • Amazon accumulates your daily PPC spend until it exceeds your account's credit limit
  • Once the limit is breached, Amazon issues a single charge covering all the accumulated days
  • This charge appears as Ads Payment in the P&L on the date it was billed — not spread across the days the costs were actually incurred
  • The result: some days show large PPC charges, others show none

What Happens When You Look at Different Periods ​

When your selected period includes a billing date:

  • SellerLegend displays the actual amount Amazon charged on that date
  • This amount covers PPC costs from potentially many preceding days

When your selected period does not include a billing date:

  • Rather than showing zero PPC expense (which would inflate your apparent profit), SellerLegend can calculate and display estimated daily incurred costs
  • This prevents misleading profit figures in periods where no Amazon billing event occurred

The Key Distinction ​

The daily incurred expense is not a billed expense — it is an actual incurred expense based on your real daily PPC activity. It may be offset by future billing cycles when Amazon eventually charges the accumulated amount.

How to Control This ​

You can choose how PPC costs are displayed in the P&L via the Settings button at the top of the P&L screen. For a detailed explanation of all three display options, see Viewing PPC Costs On the Profit and Loss Screen.